Baselworld is only a few weeks away. Getting the latest news is easy, Click Here for info on how to join the Watchuseek.com newsletter list. Follow our team for updates featuring event coverage, new product unveilings, watch industry news & more!

I think you're over thinking the whole projector choice. I'm using an old NEC MT820, which over half its lamp life used up already. And I'm getting great results on my diy 12ft wide white cardboard screen. The specs on my 820 are nowhere near as good as the viewsonic yet I'm still getting a more than great picture for what I do have.

The point is: Just get a projector- whether business or ht, commercial or diy. Specs and performance featurers count more for indoor viewing rather than outdoor viewing and ultimately, the goal is simply a massive, large image, plain and simple.

I think you're over thinking the whole projector choice. I'm using an old NEC MT820, which over half its lamp life used up already. And I'm getting great results on my diy 12ft wide white cardboard screen. The specs on my 820 are nowhere near as good as the viewsonic yet I'm still getting a more than great picture for what I do have.

The point is: Just get a projector- whether business or ht, commercial or diy. Specs and performance featurers count more for indoor viewing rather than outdoor viewing and ultimately, the goal is simply a massive, large image, plain and simple.
Victor

Basically... I WAS originally searching for a used projector to get into this on the cheap... but with bulb life (expense of new bulb)... I decided to get one that is RELATIVELY cheap ($699 is not too bad) and NEW (with a 3 year warranty)... plus I'm sure I will also get a mount, so in the winter time I can use in my spare bedroom or living room... If I'm WILLING to spend 700 bux, why not try to find a decent one with newer technology? (Can only IMPROVE my outdoor viewing experience, right?) I plan to pick up an upscaling DVD player (someone, somewhere mentioned one that will up scale and output COMPONENT rather than DVI) If I have a little money to work with, why not try to get the best possible results? If your getting a GREAT picture, I HOPE I'M BLOWN AWAY! I would just be pretty bummed out to have a washed out (non saturated) image... maybe I am over thinking it.... I've never owned a projector before... would rather make an investment that I'll be happy with a few years down the road, as technology gets more advanced... plus I will be changing over to HD service, when I mount it indoors.

I've read through the many pages here... here is my hypothetical screen design...

being the screen is gonna be flush with an exterior wall... I had hoped to find a material to attach to wood on top and bottom. Place to O-bolts in my wall with a steel tension line hung across... place a few hooks in the top runner of wood to easily hook to tension line... then maybe two (or three) O-bolts on bottom wood to bungie to O-bolts mounted to floor to keep "up/down tension"... I figure mounting to a wood runner on top and bottom will keep it tight "left/right". What is the best material to use, that I won't have to paint (BO cloth?), so I can just unhook bungies, lift off of tension line and roll up around the wood?

What do you think my luck would be for a fairly smooth screen?
Any ideas of a non-painted material choice? (not real easy to roll up painted canvas)

What is the best material to use, that I won't have to paint (BO cloth?),

Either the BOC or try looking for Dazian trapeze. I use the BOC and haven't thought I needed to paint it. The BOC had one side shiny and the other matte. Try experimenting with it. I used the shiny side, but didn't really notice a difference either way.

Here is a source for larger BOC to use. I am still looking for some >or= to 110" wide for less than $10/yrd --- seem to only be able to get this if you buy a whole roll of like 100 yard or something, LOL.

Been gone a few days. Can't say that I was successful in trying my projector out since we've been getting rain here in the North East since thursday.

I've heard a lot of talk about buying a used projector and I'd like to share what I did. I wanted a projector so that I could use it to watch movies outdoors. I am still building a home theatre in the basement and plan on getting a better projector for that when the time comes. I have often heard how good InFocus projectors were. We use these projectors at work and I have a few friends that rave about them. I decided to check on ebay and see what I could find. I found a seller, named 2nd-turn, who was selling Infocus SP5700 projectors, along with other electronic items. The projector was listed as used in very good condition. To be honest, I thought I would be getting a projector that was used by a company which had been replaced. I also checked around and was shocked that a replacement bulb cost between $400 - $500! I bid on the projector anyway and won the auction for $450. When the projector arrived and I opened the box, there was an assessory box inside that had all of the assessories still sealed in their packages! The remote was still sealed and unused! I took the projector out of the box and it was virtually in mint condition. No sign that it was even turned on. When I finally did power up the projector and checked the lamp life, there were 0 hours on the lamp! I found out that this was a refurbished projector from InFocus. It even had a warranty card which I could register the projector. I did online. By the way, the picture quality of this projector is INCREDIBLE! If you are looking for a projector on a tight budget, this is the way to go!

To change the subject, I had mentioned earlier about building an outdoor screen. After much searching and contacting a number of places for tarps and screen building instructions I decided to check ebay again and look at the screens built by DA-LITE. Da-Lite has what they call Fast-Fold screens. They come in a number of sizes but the great thing about them is that they can be put up or taken down in no time at all. They are also very sturdy. This company has a great reputation for building home theatre screens. I found a Da-Lite Fast-Fold screen on ebay that measures 10'6" x 14' net picture 122" x 164". I got the screen on ebay for $600. More than what I was expecting to pay for a tarp and materials, but it would save a lot of aggravation when it's time to put up and take down the screen. The screen folds up and has its own storage case. I just thought I'd share this with everyone. The screen should arrive in a few days and hopefully the weather will be good this weekend. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

just got my 12 foot by 15 foot "screen" in from www.allseasonuniforms.com. Completely white, can't see thru it. It's basically a GIGANTIC doctor's uniform. Going to string it up this w/e and check out the picture from the PJ. So far, so good. Going to go the PVC and grommet route also.

If you do decide to go with a PVC frame, in not sure if you want a permanent screen frame or one that you can take apart. If you do make a permanent screen, depending on what size pipe you are going to use, I would recommend that you put a piece of EMT (electrical metalic tubing) inside the main frame pieces. EMT is also called thinwall conduit, it is used by the electrical trade. It can be found in the electrical department of most home depot or loews stores. It is very ridged and much more lightweight that standard pipe. Just though I'd suggest that. If you are thinking about using PVC that is around 1 1/2" it will bend when you try to stretch you screen onto the hooks. That is why it wouldn't hurt to put the EMT inside the pipe.

Just wanted to drop a line and say this Viewsonic 2000 lumen pj is working AWESOME thus far... I was PJing onto my back wall (no screen) which is mid brown bricks and I STILL had a beautifully saturated pic... just bought 9 yds of BO (for a 8' wide outdoor/7' wide indoor) screens with a 40% coupon for like 23$... can't beat that.... I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the picture... absolutely gorgeous from a S-Video line from a DVD... I also picked up a Uplscaling DVD player and a VGA Breakout Cable (VGA-to-Component), so I think that'll even tweak it a little more! Got the old Pioneer Elite amp and DCM tower Loudspeakers... can't wait for the double feature tomorrow evening, weather permitting... I'll post pics tomorrow.... quite impressed by the $699 pj w/3 yr warranty... would reccomend for outdoor use, ultra-portable, and super bright!

I just received my Da-Lite 10' x 14' screen from Fedex the other day and tried it out in my back yard that night. The distance calculator that I used was very precise. I positioned my InFocus SP5700 around 35' away from the screen and waited for the sun to begin to set. To be honest, I kept thinking that at that distance the light would be a little dim. I was wrong! I had the light of the projector set at its low rating and after the projector warmed up the screen was completely filled with bright light! I really wonder how big I could have gone with this projector!

I purchased a Samsung DVD HD-860 and used the HDMI output of the DVD player and connected it to the M1 input of the InFocus projector I could not believe the picture quality! With the Samsung DVD Player, it upconverts the Digital signal to 720P and 1080I. The 1080I selection was so smooth that you could walk right up to the screen and not see any screendoor effect! This picture was BETTER than some of the pictures I have seen at an indoor theatre! I tested the movie The Incredibles and watched the coming attraction trailer for CARS. I tell you, we are going to be watching a lot of outdoor movies (besides going to our local Drive-In Theatre which we do every weekend).

Another note to the readers here. I hooked up the audio output of the DVD player to a Ramsey FM100 transmitter. This was done inside my house. I then used an old Pioneer receiver near my screen and ran two Infinity bookshelf speakers from it. I tuned in the receiver to the Ramsey transmitter selected frequency (FM 106.9) and the sound was INCREDIBLE! Now, whenever people come over to watch any movies, they can bring their own personal radios and tune into the movie sound! You can buy a Ramsey FM100 Transmitter as a kit for $269.95 at www.ramseyelectronics.com. It is also available assembled.

I will post some pictures when I set up again this week.

Mark Bialek
The Drive-In Guy

P.S. Regarding the PVC pipe surviving the outdoors. I built a cloths hanger outside our house which stood for nearly 12 years. The PVC was in direct sunlight all that time and never became brittle or cracked. Not sure if you plan on making a screen frame that will stand permanent or not. If not, you shouldn't have any problems. I think EMT frames would be a little easier to assemble and take apart though.

Turned out really well... got one movie in before the rain last night, here in Pittsburgh. You can see a little pulling of the BO cloth in the pic... but was not at all noticable while projecting. I can also eliminate that buy changing the bungie cords anchoring it to the ground. I installed the BO cloth with a 1x2x8 of poplar on top and bottom. I put 4 O-bolts across top, with 4 hooks mounted in the brick. Just hang up and roll down/bungie... instant movie. I just roll it up when done and insert into a piece of PVC pipe with caps, and can leave it outside beside my shed...

not a bad setup... just got finished stretching my 7ft wide screen for my upstairs room... you can see the frame sitting on my deck in that pic.

My outdoor screen is 8ft wide, which is perfectly suited for my small "urban" style backyard.

Thanks for all the info guys... helps to get it 85% right on the first try...
3matthew3

I was making this frame to tear it down and store it in the garage. I just wanted it to be a 10 min process rather then 30. The EMT inside the small PVC is a great idea. I will check into that. I was going to use 3" Schedule 40 or Schedule 80 (super thick and WILL NOT bend) piping. Going with the 1.5" with EMT means much smaller holes to be dug! Fantastic in my lazy ass labor department!

The white screen I got from allseasonsuniform got a test run Saturday night. EXCELLENT! $35 later including shipping and we stayed out from 9p to 1a b/c we liked the colors, brightness, etc of it! Only complaint is that it is quite lightweight. I'm thinking that I will back it with my existing tan canvas drop cloth to give it some durability for grommeting and EMT mounting.

For the past two years, I used a 15'x15' dropcloth from Home Depot with a thin wooden frame around it, hung from my 3rd floor gutters on bungy cords. It worked well and the movie nights have been a big success, with over 120 people attending last fall, but the shape was square and had two seams across it.

This year I want to make a new one that is 16x9 in shape and even bigger in size than the old one. Plus I demand that it not have any seams.

Now I know that it it is hard to find fabric that is huge and not have seams, but here is my new idea:

You know how billboards now are wrapped in a huge sheet of vinyl (or something material) instead of smaller sections of wallpaper-like paper that they used to use?

Well, since the the backside of the billboard sheet is white, I am thinking of contacting a local billboard company to see if they have any used or misprinted sheets that I could have or buy. That could be huge!

I just completed my deck/patio and now I'm thinking of getting my projector and screen some workout on the deck.

I have a Plus Piano (a bit concerned about that) already on a cart for moving in and out of our family room. I have an InFocus pull-down screen (76", I believe. I know it is 72" wide).

I could easily move these two devices out to my patio, but my big question is - how do I go about mounting an eye bolt to the soffit of my house so I can hang the InFocus underneath my eaves? And will it be worth it or will this type of pull-down screen blow with even the slightest breeze?

I already have outdoor speakers mounted for general music listening and I have wiring available, terminating externally on the side of my house, to send a co-ax digital audio feed to the receiver powering said speakers.

Here is another backyard screen story for you all to review. After seeing the outdoor movie thread resurrected, I decided it was time to have a go. Last year I tested the waters using an old slide screen, old work presentation LCD projector (600 lumens) and my trusty laptop. Other than the typical Bill Gates 3 finger salute everything went well and my showing of Pirates of the Caribbean was the talk of the subdivision. It was late in the year, and we only had time for one additional showing of Godzilla. Seemed to me that was a must watch outside.
I began planning last month, which helped ease my wife into the idea of a more sizeable screen. My goals were keeping costs to a minimum, creating a structure I felt was safe and stable, and most importantly east to set-up, take down, and store. Based on these criteria I selected 1.5 PCV pipe for the frame. This would be broken into 4 separate stands, and 3 sections for the screen frame. Each section would be K or cross braced for stability and connected to each other using hitch pins. To stand the screen I opted to use 60lb tube sand bags which require no tent stakes, or rope. The screen fabric is 110 black out cloth with ½ grommets and tied to the screen frame using bungee cords every 24.
As my project progressed my wife accepted the thought of a new brighter projector and realized there was no talking me out of it. I selected a new Dell 5.5lb 3000 lumen model which was available for 0% over 30 months. Of course there was the occasional it will never work which just drove me harder and at one point I wondered the same myself. It always amazes me how you can measure the same length 2 times and still have it off in the end. My neighbors got an ear full as I let the heat and PVC glue get the best of my temper while assembling the cross braces.
Finally last Wednesday we test fit sections together and placed the screen over the frame. Everything went flawlessly, other than letting go the bungee without fully hooking the grommet. Almost took out my friend who was helping on the opposite side of the screen. OOPS. Now came the critical moment. Could this large and heavy structure be lifted into place and withstand the load? Four of us began to lift and pivot the screen into place with no issues. It couldn't have gone any better! The screen popped into place, and even stood without additional weight placed on the stands. We moved the sand bags onto the stands, and watched Roger Rabbit. The entire process took less than 30 min even our first time. The wife acceptance level, as I have seen it called here, is great now. She even decided we needed a popcorn cart.

Saturday was our grand opening and we selected Raiders of the lost Ark as the initial title. I purchased the Elite Drive-In DVDs so I could edit the classic commercials in, added some current Quicktime movie trailers and a Donald Duck cartoon. It was a great night. Our friends brought Junior Mints, Hot Tamales and other movie candy.
Now my only problem is deciding what to watch next.

You are correct...110" tall (minus any edge finishing you do to be able to attach to frame) and however long you want to make it.

I used the 54" wide sewn across the middle to get something about 100" tall and about 12 feet wide (roughly 16:9 - turns out it doesn't really matter as long you're close!). I don't have any problem with the seam. The key to sewing it is to pin it first. We took it outside, layed it out and pinned it (with a LOT of pins), and then took it in and sewed it. It looks to me like the problem you had was that the machine started to "gather" the cloth as you went along. That's what caused those big sags. Then we took it back out, layed it out over the frame and measured for pockets around the edges to slide the PVC frame though and get the final size. Fortunately, my wife is pretty good with a sewing machine and figured all this out BEFORE we started.

You are correct, a single piece simplifies everything, but I know where to go to get material in case of a disaster.

Excellent setup! There is quite a little pocket of outdoor movie enthusiasts in this area of the country that frequent these boards. As you can see from my info, I'm in Crystal Lake, and have my setup as well that you can see in some of the previous postings. (My signature shows an older version of my setup...)

The summer has been quite busy, but the next showing we are looking to do is in honor of my daughter who turns 1 on August 4th. So on August 5th, we are looking to do one of the girlie Disney movies (Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Mulan, etc.) after her first party. By night time, she will be tucked away in bed, but the rest of us will enjoy it.

At this point the next show will be July 22nd, but I haven't picked the title yet. I'm leaning towards Back to the Future. Do you usually send tickets and other extras to your attendees, or just keep things simple? The 1st show was just close friends in the subdivision, but this next show will include friends of friends, etc... Although I am a summer person, I can't wait until fall when I can show Ghostbusters.

Who else do we have that is in the McHenry area? I noticed Algonquin, but are there even more locals? I heard the real McHenry drive-in backs up traffic for miles before a weekend show. Too bad it will be gone soon. Glad we are all here to keep the experience alive!

Ordered it online, arrived in IL 3 days later ground. Very happy with the quality, with a quick hem and a few grommets you're ready to go. Just watch out for the birds! Anyone had that happen yet? How do you clean your screen?

At this point the next show will be July 22nd, but I haven't picked the title yet. I'm leaning towards Back to the Future. Do you usually send tickets and other extras to your attendees, or just keep things simple? The 1st show was just close friends in the subdivision, but this next show will include friends of friends, etc... Although I am a summer person, I can't wait until fall when I can show Ghostbusters.

Who else do we have that is in the McHenry area? I noticed Algonquin, but are there even more locals? I heard the real McHenry drive-in backs up traffic for miles before a weekend show. Too bad it will be gone soon. Glad we are all here to keep the experience alive!

Last year, we printed out faux tickets, and passed them up and down the neighborhood and to our friends. This year, we have only had two movie nights, and for both, I just printed up little cards with the info on them--we are keeping it more and more simple. But there is a ticket making Excel spreadsheet floating around (I can e-mail it to you if you don't have it and want it). But it lets you design and print your own tickets in like five steps, including little images, etc. It's quite user-friendly, but a little buggy.

Thanks for the link on the BOC. Maybe I'll switch mine out--using artist's canvas right now.

I've gotten e-mails from LITH, Algonquin, and Woostock from this site.

Will probably do "Lucky # Slevin" this Fri night (as you see, some of these are, and will be, kidless).

Afterwards, I will probably take the month of August off as it is already African hot to stay outside and watch a movie comfortably. Was 85 degs last night here at 10p.

I'll probably pick up the show in early Sept with an HD presentation of Monday Night Football from ESPN. I just gotta run the satellite recvr RG6 cables outside for this one! Then on to the World Series and if the weather is OK in early February, I'd like to do the Super Bowl outside and then call it quites until next May.

I saw folks do some showings in 40 degs weather. I suppose for the Super Bowl, I could get some attendance, but for just a movie - not so sure about that!

Will probably do "Lucky # Slevin" this Fri night (as you see, some of these are, and will be, kidless).

Afterwards, I will probably take the month of August off as it is already African hot to stay outside and watch a movie comfortably. Was 85 degs last night here at 10p.

I'll probably pick up the show in early Sept with an HD presentation of Monday Night Football from ESPN. I just gotta run the satellite recvr RG6 cables outside for this one! Then on to the World Series and if the weather is OK in early February, I'd like to do the Super Bowl outside and then call it quites until next May.

I saw folks do some showings in 40 degs weather. I suppose for the Super Bowl, I could get some attendance, but for just a movie - not so sure about that!

That update will do...

I'm just curious what people are showing, if anyone has had any further ideas for materials, etc. Anyone with pictures? I like the ideas generated by this thread, and wanted to resuscitate it before it slipped down to AVS Heck.